Health Equity & Access Weekly Roundup: May 15, 2026

SCOTUS Decides to Extend Telehealth Access to Abortion Care: FAQs on Preventive Care and Bodily Autonomy

The recent Supreme Court decision temporarily preserved nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone by pausing lower court rulings that sought to restrict telehealth prescribing and mail delivery of the medication, keeping the drug available while legal challenges continue. The case stems from a Fifth Circuit appeal backed by Louisiana, which argued that telehealth access undermines the state’s strict abortion ban, despite decades of evidence supporting mifepristone’s safety and FDA approval. Experts interviewed emphasized that telehealth has become a critical pathway for abortion care, especially after the overturning of Roe v Wade, helping reduce financial, logistical, and geographic barriers for patients in restrictive states. Social determinants of health (SDOH), including poverty, transportation access, childcare needs, and systemic racism, disproportionately limit reproductive care for marginalized populations. Broader concerns about bodily autonomy were underscored through the case of a Florida woman pressured by the state to undergo a cesarean section against her wishes, illustrating how reproductive rights debates now extend beyond abortion alone. Advocates warned that further restrictions on mifepristone could deepen inequities, increase stigma and criminalization, and threaten access to essential reproductive health care across the US.

ATS 2026 to Spotlight Environment, Late-Breaking Thoracic Care Research

Top experts in thoracic and respiratory care will gather in Orlando, Florida, next week for the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2026 International Conference to discuss pressing topics in the space, including how the environment plays into care, differences in treatment based on gender, and rethinking treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Key sessions will explore how sex and gender influence cardiopulmonary disease and treatment outcomes, the impact of environmental exposures and urban air quality on respiratory health, and the expanding role of pulmonary rehabilitation beyond chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension. The conference will also feature exclusive presentations of major journal research, discussions on precision medicine approaches for OSA and continuous positive airway pressure therapy, and panels addressing SDOH, climate change, nicotine addiction, and disparities in lung care. Throughout the week, hundreds of new abstracts on asthma, COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and other respiratory conditions will highlight the latest scientific advances in the field.

Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Linked to Poorer Cardiovascular Health, Arterial Injury in Young Adult Offspring

A new longitudinal study found that adverse pregnancy outcomes—including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, and preterm birth—may have lasting cardiovascular consequences not only for mothers but also for their children into early adulthood. Using data from more than 1300 mother-child pairs followed for over 20 years, researchers found that young adults exposed to these pregnancy complications in utero had poorer cardiovascular health markers, including higher body mass index, elevated blood pressure, increased hemoglobin A_1C levels, and signs of early arterial injury such as increased carotid intima-media thickness, an indicator of early atherosclerosis. Exposure to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy showed the strongest associations with cardiometabolic risk and vascular damage, while preterm birth and gestational diabetes were also linked to adverse metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes. The findings build on growing evidence connecting pregnancy complications to long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and suggest that optimizing maternal health during pregnancy could improve heart health across generations, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations that face disproportionate burdens of both adverse pregnancy outcomes and CVD.

State-Level Differences in Life Expectancy Persist Across Generations in the US

A new cohort-based study analyzing more than 179 million deaths from 1969 to 2020 found widening disparities in life expectancy across the US, with Southern states experiencing far smaller gains in longevity than many Northeastern and Western states, despite overall national improvements in mortality. Researchers examined birth cohorts from 1900 to 2000 and found that although life expectancy increased substantially nationwide—by about 10 years for women and 22 years for men—the gains varied dramatically by geography, with Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, and Kentucky consistently lagging behind. In contrast, places like Washington, DC, New York, California, and Massachusetts saw much larger improvements in survival and slower acceleration of mortality risk with age. The findings suggest that state-level public health policies, socioeconomic conditions, access to preventive care, education, environmental exposures, smoking rates, obesity, and CVD burden may significantly influence lifespan. Although the study noted limitations related to migration patterns and incomplete demographic data, the authors concluded that persistent regional inequities in longevity highlight the critical role of targeted public health interventions and health equity policies in shaping long-term population health outcomes.

Medication Nonadherence: Why Patients Miss Doses, Health Systems Miss the Signs

New research presented at the 2026 Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, challenges traditional methods of measuring medication adherence, arguing that commonly used refill-based metrics such as proportion of days covered and medication possession ratio fail to capture real patient behavior and often miss the highest-risk periods for nonadherence. Using real-time, patient-reported data collected through the Tappt Health platform developed by Synchronyx, researchers found that patients are most vulnerable to discontinuing or incorrectly taking medications during the first weeks of treatment, when adverse effects, uncertainty about therapy, and disruptions in routine are most common, well before refill-based systems can detect a problem. The study also showed that nonadherence is driven by diverse factors, including forgetfulness, adverse effects, supply issues, and intentional decisions about treatment, meaning one-size-fits-all interventions may be ineffective. Researchers further noted that some medication gaps classified as nonadherence are actually provider-directed treatment pauses, suggesting current quality measures may overestimate adherence problems and distort outcomes research. The findings support shifting toward real-time, patient-centered adherence monitoring to better identify barriers to treatment and reduce the estimated $100 billion to $300 billion in annual costs and preventable deaths linked to medication nonadherence in the US.